O'Brien primed for another Derby double
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In the history of the Group 1 Irish Derby, 19 winners also won the Group 1 English Derby at Epsom Racecourse.
On Sunday, Lambourn will be an odds-on favorite to become the 20th to reach the milestone and give legendary trainer Aidan O’Brien his sixth Epsom-Irish double. He has won the Irish Derby a remarkable 16 times.
Lambourn will have familiar company. Lazy Griff and Tennessee Stud, second and third in the English Derby on June 7, are part of a field of 10 in the $1.46 million Irish Derby, run at 1 1/2 miles at The Curragh.
Lambourn, owned by the Coolmore syndicate, has won 4 of 6 starts and was a surprise winner at Epsom. Ridden by Wayne Lordan, Lambourn was always near the front, led by three lengths with three furlongs remaining, and won by 3 3/4 lengths over Lazy Griff.
Lambourn was 13-2, while the O’Brien-trained Delacroix finished ninth as the 2-1 favorite after a troubled trip. Delacroix is not part of the Irish Derby field.
Ryan Moore, who rides first call for O’Brien, rode Delacroix in the English Derby and has the mount on Lambourn in the Irish Derby. O’Brien trains half of the Irish Derby field. Lordan rides the O’Brien-trained outsider Puppet Master, a stakes winner in England in his last start on May 10.
Lambourn was 10-11 to win the Irish Derby with bookmakers as of Friday, a strong choice compared to Tennessee Stud (4-1) or Lazy Griff (14-1).
Tennessee Stud, trained by Aidan’s son Joseph, was beaten 4 3/4 lengths by Lambourn in the English Derby after breaking a stride slow.
Lambourn is by Australia, who won the English and Irish derbies in 2014 for O’Brien. The other O’Brien-trained runners to win both famous races are Galileo (2001), High Chaparral (2002), Camelot (2012), and Auguste Rodin (2023).
The Irish Derby distance will test Green Impact, who won the minor Glencairn Stakes at 1 1/8 miles at Leopardstown Racecourse in Ireland on June 5 for his third win in five starts for trainer Jessica Harrington. Green Impact, sixth in the Group 1 English 2000 Guineas at Newmarket in May, beat Delacroix in consecutive starts in a maiden race and the Group 2 Juvenile Stakes at seven furlongs at Leopardstown last year. Green Impact was 7-1 as of Friday.
Grand Prix de Saint-Cloud
Aventure, a 4-year-old filly unbeaten in two stakes since a second-place finish in the Group 1 Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe at Longchamp last October, is part of a field of five in Sunday’s Group 1 Grand Prix de Saint-Cloud at 1 1/2 miles at Saint-Cloud racecourse in Paris.
Aventure, trained by Christophe Ferland, has won twice this year in group stakes for fillies and mares in races at 1 1/4 miles and 1 5/16 miles.
A winner of 5 of 10 starts, Aventure is the lone filly or mare in the $469,400 Grand Prix de Saint-Cloud, racing against Group 1 winners Goliath, Iresine, Junko, and Calandagan, who has been second in four consecutive Group 1 races in Europe since last summer.
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